Making the most of their exceptional speed and defence, the Kelowna Christian School Knights won four straight games in convincing fashion to capture the B.C. Grade 9 boys basketball championship in Burnaby on the weekend.
A 66-38 victory over No. 3-ranked Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs of Vancouver on Sunday put the finishing touches on the perfect weekend that saw the Knights live up to their No. 1 seeding in the 20-team provincial event.
Parker Fleming, a tournament first all-star team selection, led the Knights in the title match, scoring 28 points while Parker Martens, chosen the tournament’s most valuable player, added 17 to go along with 12 by first-team all-star Micah Borne.
The Knights, improving to 33-3 on the season and maintaining an unblemished record against Grade 9 teams, earned a berth in the gold-medal game by defeating the Argyle Pipers of North Vancouver 74-32 in semifinal play.
Martens’ 31 points were high for the Knights while Borne netted 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Fleming added another 11 points and pulled down 12 rebounds.
Following an opening-day 82-28 win over the Notre Dame Jugglers of Vancouver, KCS cruised by the Kitsilano Blue Demons 88-21 in quarter-final play. Drew Williams, selected to the second all-star team, was a major force in the two wins.
Head coach, Tim Martens, acknowledged the Knights are big, fast and possess plenty of basketball smarts, but added it was his team’s character that shone through at the 23rd annual event.
“This team really thrives on character and we believe it made a huge difference,” he said. “Once a week for the past nine weeks the team would eat together, have character talks and watch film together. What a difference that made at Provincials. Our chemistry and unselfish play separated us from the other teams quickly.”
Meanwhile, the No. 11-seed Dr. Knox Falcons of Kelowna finished in fifth place by winning three of four games, two of which were against higher-ranked teams.
The Falcons, second-place finishers to KCS in the Okanagan Valley championship, defeated No. 5 Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers of Surrey 54-36 in their final game on Sunday.
Dr. Knox edged the Handsworth Royals of North Vancouver 56-51 for the right to meet Tweedsmuir. Their only loss (61-49) came at the hands of No. 3-ranked Sir Winston Churchill, while the Falcons upset No. 6 Walnut Grove Gators 74-41 in the tournament opener.
The Okanagan Mission Huskies won one of three games, their only win being against Brentwood (67-40).
Seeded fifth going into the 16-team B.C. School Sports senior AAA girls basketball championship tournament, the Kelowna Owls moved up a notch to place fourth overall at the Langley Events Centre on the weekend.
The defending champions finished with a 2-2 record, winning their first two games over Mt. Baker of Cranbrook (94-46) and the No. 5-ranked Yale Lions of Abbotsford (65-64) while losing to the eventual provincial-champion Semiahmoo Totems of Surrey (82-64) and No. 6 Brookswood Bobcats of Langley (73-62) in the bronze-medal game on Saturday.
Jaeli Ibbetson, selected to the tournament all-star team, scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in the Owls’ final game while Jordan Kemper contributed 10 points and six rebounds. Kennedy Dickie, a tournament second-team all-star, chipped in with eight points and 10 boards.
Meanwhile, the Okanagan Mission Huskies, playing in their first-ever provincial tournament at the AAA level, went in as the No. 8 seeded and that’s where they finished.
The Huskies opened by defeating the No. 9 Abbotsford Panthers 91-77, but went on to lose three straight against higher-ranked teams. They fell to No. 1 Semiahmoo 86-33 in quarter-final play and came out on the short end against Yale 83-63 and to No. 7 Robert Bateman of Abbotsford 65-62.
A 24-point output in the third quarter by Bateman proved to be the Huskies’ downfall, although they did outscore the Timberwolves 15-12 in the final 10 minutes.
Grade 10 Lily Pink scored 17 points to lead OKM against Bateman while Grade 12, Jenna Robinson, closed out her high school career with a 16-point performance.
Semiahmoo, with a predominantly Grade 10 roster, won the provincial title by defeating No 2-ranked Walnut Grove Gators of Langley 72-61 in a come-from-behind victory.
The Totems trailed 26-9 early in the second quarter and 28-21 at the half, but came all the way back to earn their first provincial title since 1953 and post a perfect 40-0 record for the season.
Finishing with a 3-2 record, the Okanagan Mission Huskies placed sixth among 32 teams at the B.C. junior boys championship tournament in Langley.
The Huskies, upset winners over the Kelowna Owls in the Okanagan Valley championship, went into the provincial tourney ranked fifth. After winning their first two games over No. 28 R.E. Mountain of Langley (54-35) and the MEI Eagles of Abbotsford (58-49), OKM dropped a 55-47 decision to the St. Patrick Celtics of Vancouver in quarter-final play.
OKM went on to defeat the Claremont Spartans of Victoria 50-47 before losing 54-53 to the Walnut Grove Gators of Langley in the fifth/sixth-place matchup.
Fabian Reyes-Perez led the Huskies with a 17-point performance in their final game while Brandon Nemes, a second-team all-star, hit for 16 points, nine of which were three-pointers.
The Kelowna Owls, seeded 10th, finished in 11th place with a 3-3 record. They defeated No. 8-seed Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs of Vancouver 67-63 in their final game.
A 16-point effort by Nolan Dergousoff set the offensive pace for the Owls against the Bulldogs. Zachery Shields netted 10 points for the winners.
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